Heaven Sent, Hell Bound
by K.C.I.C
Summary: This is a story about a completely different Bell than the one you know. She's an Angel and a Devil all in one. Will Edward still love her the same way?
1. Chapter 1

I looked up at my home. I was finally done. All my things had been sold or donated to charity. The house would disappear one I left. I was physically ready to go, but not mentally. It was always hard leaving a place I was so comfortable with and having to relocate somewhere new. It was even worse since I was all alone at the moment. I wasn't usually alone. My best friend, Vanita, would be meeting me at our new home. Technically, I would be meeting her, since I was going to follow her scent to the new location. At one point, I had a happy life. Being the baby of my family, I was used to being spoiled and always getting what I wanted. At this point, I wanted my happy family back. But I knew that was farther from impossible that pigs walking on water, or even flying. With a small sigh, I climbed into my Jaguar and sped off.

My next destination was Forks, Washington. I usually stuck to living in small places. It was easier to stay undetected by those who would hunt me down. Every once in a while, Vanita and I would splurge and live a big life in the fast lane, but that just made moving on that much harder. Life was easier when you didn't bond with people who would ask so many questions. I had a few close friends that I was able to keep in touch with, but I didn't see them much. There was only one person that I wanted to see, and I wouldn't be able to see him for a long time; as always.

I was a fast driver. At the speed I was going, it was a quick drive from Las Vegas to Forks. I was there in a few hours time. I drove to the outskirts of town, my window down so I could catch Vanita's scent in the wind. I followed it far into the woods. These woods were populated with dangerous wildlife, so human scents were scarce. I drove through, making sure not to scratch my car. Soon, I came to a clearing. It was covered with grass, and not big enough for my tastes. But that could be fixed easily. I stopped my car at the edge of the clearing, and climbed out. With a smile plastered on my face, I walked through the ankle height grass towards the center of the circle.

"Hello, Vanita."

"That's it. Isabella Marie Swan - Papoulias, you better stop playing and give me a hug."

Before I could say anything, Vanita pulled me into a bone crushing hug. This would've killed any normal person, but Vanita and I were far from normal. I was strange how someone so small could have so much power; but I was one to talk. Vanita and I were similar, yet extremely different. Vanita was half Indian, and definitely looked the part. She had long, brown ---almost black---hair, big brown eyes, and caramel skin. She was small and very petite, but definitely gorgeous. Standing at about 5 feet, her hair swept at the back of her knees. She had too much of it in my opinion. And her body was just perfect. She was extremely curvy. She loved wearing cute outfits, accessories, and almost always had a flower in her hair.

I, on the other hand, was half Greek and Half Italian. Contrary to our extremely different cultures, Vanita and I were extremely similar. I was also on the short side, standing at a measly 5'3", but at least I was taller than Vanita. I also had long hair, but mine was auburn brown, and only fell to my waist. My skin should've been very pale due to certain factors in my bloodline, but was very tan due to all the time I spent in the sun. It went beautifully with my almost black eyes. I had a sort of angelic glow. I was always modest, but if I was true to myself, I was a goddess. I could've given the ancient Greeks a run for their money, especially that Aphrodite.

"You picked a good place, Nita."

"Don't I always?" she asked cockily.

"Hey, I have picked out some of our homes as well you know."

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're so full of yourself."

"Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black."

"Oh whatever."

We giggled a bit, both knowing good and well that Vanita was one of the vainest people in the world. I was too, but only when I was around family, and Vanita, who I considered to be a sister.

"Since you're so good with where we live, how about making our house now."

"Alright. No need to get impatient."

I stepped away from her, and closed my eyes. I was focusing my energy on the clearing. I thought about the usual style of the houses we lived it, and began projecting it from my mind. Soon, the house was building itself around us. The clearing had widened substantially. My car had been moved to the garage in our brand new seven bedroom, four bathroom house. It was fully equipped with a huge kitchen, a living and dining room, a fully furnished basement, and an attic. There was now a path through the forest that led from our house to the main road. The house was beautifully decorated. It was a mixture of Indian and Greek styles as always.

"Nice. I like it, Bells."

"Of course. Thank you. _Gratzi_." Of course she and I could both speak several languages on top of our native tongues, so there was never a language barrier.

"So, I think it's time to go shopping. We start school in a week and we have absolutely nothing." Nita suggested.

"You're right. But I don't see why we have to start school right away. Or why we have to go at all. I've been through high school so many times that I'm sick of it. What can they teach me that I don't already know?"

"Hey. Maybe you'll meet someone interesting. That's all school seems to be good for now a days."

"You know better than that. We have to try not to get attached to anyone this time. We've been slipping up lately and we've paid for it. We have to be careful."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Gosh. You sound just like Sly." She said playfully aggravated, but when she saw my face, she immediately jumped into a fit of apologies. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry Bella. I didn't mean ---"

I cut her off before she had a stroke, "It's okay," I said warmly, "I know I sound just like him." I smiled at the thought.

"Come on." She said, "Let's see if there's a decent mall within a few miles of this boring town."

"Let's go."

Nita and I ran out to my car. We were headed for Seattle. It was a big city, so there had to be some decent shopping there. Vanita and I always had money to burn due in large part to the fact that we were both descendants of royalty, and because we had been accumulating money of the large span of time that we'd been alive. Sometimes, life seemed too easy for us, but it was far from that. We lived in a world full of complications that were unfathomable to the human mind. But now was not the time to dwell on this. I had enough to think about without this added stress.

Nita and I reached the mall in half an hour. We were definitely in shop 'til you drop mode. We pulled credit cards and cash left and right. Luckily we were strong or we would have drowned in all the shopping bags we had. I think it was well over one hundred between the two of us. This definitely took my mind off of things. Shopping would have that affect on any girl with money. After we had all that we needed, Nita and I headed home. We chose rooms that were right beside each other. Her room was decorated to look like an Indian Princesses, mine had a sort of under the sea theme. While Nita's was adorned in reds and golds, mine was garlanded with shades of blue, green, and magenta. We had the same basic accommodations. Leather couches, stuffed animals, computers, flat screens, huge beds, anything we could ever need.

By the time we actually finished putting everything away, and organizing things, it was sundown on Sunday. We made an entire move in less than 24 hours. Sometimes it came in handy to be abnormal. Who am I kidding? It came in handy all the time. It was as I right after I had plugged in my computer that I realized me and Nita had forgotten something pretty important. I made my way to Vanita's room.

"Nita, do you realize that we forgot to buy real food?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. I wasn't hungry, so eating never even crossed my mind. And we have school tomorrow. We can't go hungry."

"Explain to me why we are starting school in January instead of just taking the rest of the school year off again."

"Don't be so lazy, Bells. But we should go hunting now. Plus, it'll give us a chance to check out what options we have in that forest."

"If we must." I agreed. I normally had more energy than this, but I was dead right now. Most of it was because I really didn't feel like going to school. The other reason was because of that comment Vanita made yesterday. I still had Sly on the brain. I missed him so much. Hopefully he would call soon. I refused to risk calling him until I knew it was safe.

Vanita and I got to the door at faster than human speed. Though it was cold and raining, we had no need for a jacket. The cold had no affect on us. We sprinted out into the dark night. The forest was creepy at night. That would make this more fun for us. Hunting would be more like a game. There were tons of nocturnal creatures roaming around. Many were hunting like us. With the predators out, it was like someone was handing us a buffet. It was easy for us to take down the animals, but Nita and I preferred to fight with them first. In twenty minutes, we had devoured four lions and three bears. We were both full. Nita and I returned to the house. The only thing left to do now was shower, and get to sleep. It wasn't like we needed sleep. We only had to rest our bodies every few days. Might as well do it today.


	2. Chapter 2

It was early Monday morning. Vanita had to drag me out of bed because I had no intention on getting up for school. I really didn't want to go. Reluctant as I was, I complied with Vanita's wishes for me to get ready. After brushing my teeth, I returned to me room and headed for my room sized walk in. I started in the front, trailing my fingers across shirts. After that, I moved on to jeans, then bags. Finally, I stopped at the back wall to find shoes. I sat at my dresser to apply my make up. Once I was all set, I checked myself out in the full length mirror on my door, before grabbing my sling over back pack and going downstairs. Vanita was waiting for me by the front door.

"Took you long enough." She said crankily as I descended the grand staircase.

"Oh whatever." I replied. Once I reached her, we checked each other out. Vanita had her hair up in a bun. When her hair was pulled back it made her look even more beautiful. She was wearing tight black pants, and a red tube top. On her feet were black boots. Vanita was famous were always wearing boots and heels. She had sneakers, but rarely ever wore them. And of course, there was a red flower in her hair to go with her shirt. Her lips were glossy, but had no added color. They were just naturally a burgundy color.

My hair was strait down. I had on a black pleated mini, and a black tank with the word Devil in pink. I wore black heels and a pink beaded bracelet. My lips were a glossy dark red.

"You look perfect." We both said to each other.

Vanita followed me outside to my car. She hadn't yet decided on what type of car she wanted me to conjure up for her. But I knew as soon as something good enough caught her eye, she would ask for it. I hopped in the driver's seat, she in the passenger, and we took off for Forks High.

As we sped into the parking lot, all eyes were on us. I was reveling in the attention, and I knew Vanita was too. We stepped out, and headed for the secretary.

"Hello." I said, causing the receptionist to look up. When she laid eyes on us, her eyes almost popped out of her head.

"H-Hello." She stammered, "You must be the new students. Ms. Jaikason and Ms. Swan," I had decided to use just Swan as my hyphenated last name would be difficult for many to pronounce.

"Yes. That's us." I told her.

"Here are your schedules."

"Thank you." we said, taking the papers from her and leaving the office. Once out, we began comparing schedules.

Me

_Calculus_

_French_

_Literature_

_Music_

_World History_

_Lunch_

_Biologys_

_Philosophy_

Vanita

_Calculus_

_Philosophy_

_Literature_

_Anatomy_

_Art_

_Lunch_

_World History_

_Spanish_

"At least we have two classes together." Vanita said.

"Do you remember what it was like when we were actually sixteen year old juniors?" I asked, jokingly.

"Girl, they didn't have school when we were sixteen."

"You make me feel so old." I groaned, causing us both to laugh. As we walked to the math building for calculus, I noticed people staring. "Do you really think this is fair? These girls can't compete with us. It's hard enough for them to keep their boyfriends in line as it is. We are not helping."

"Let them be jealous. It's not our fault we're beautiful. They'll just have to deal with it. It's not like we'd give those guys the time of day anyways." Vanita said. We were speaking too low for humans to hear, but our advanced senses picked it up perfectly.

We had finally arrived at calculus class. We took the two empty seats in the back. Though the name sounded intimidating, Calculus wasn't at all hard for us. Mr. Croshei was a kind man. Usually math teachers are evil, but he was nice. He gave us some work to help us catch up and offered help if we needed any. Vanita and I thanked him, and politely told him that we could manage. When the bell rang, we had to separate. Like I said before, we were both skilled in many languages. I took French because it was very different from Greek and Italian, which were both similar to Spanish. Vanita was taking Spanish because it was very different from Arabic. We reunited for third period in Literature class. So far, Ms. Perez is the one teacher I didn't like. You would think that since we're new she would try to make a good impression. She made it very clear that she didn't want to have to catch up two students without saying the actual words. We had already read everything on the list of books she gave us, so this class would be a breeze.

We were parting ways for fourth period. We split up after telling the other to text if anything went wrong. I would see her at lunch. Music was fun. The class was in the singing part of the course. I had always been an excellent singer. I had the voice of an angel. The teacher, Ms. Vera, offered me a soloist spot. I couldn't turn her down with my love of singing, so I accepted. We only had to perform at a spring concert, and award ceremonies. The only rehearsals were class during school, so it wouldn't take up any of my outside time. I liked Forks already. Too bad that feeling wouldn't last.

After World History with Mr. Johnson, my new favorite teacher, I headed to the cafeteria. I spotted Vanita in line, and joined her. We each got a slice of pizza and a soda since we had a big "dinner" the night before. We sat at a booth in the middle of the cafeteria.

"So, how was your day?" I asked her.

"It was pretty good. Heads up, you're gonna love the Philosophy teacher."

"And you're gonna love the World History teacher."

"Thanks for the tip. Have any of the other students tried to talk to you yet?"

"I lost count after twenty." I told her, "Some of them even invited me to lunch. I turned them down though. I told them I already promised to sit with someone."

"Me too. Although, there was this cute boy ---"

"Vanita, you can't."

"Calm down. I know that. I was just saying."

"Uh huh, but listen. There's something I wanted to talk to you about." I said in a serious tone.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Have you smelt any vampires around here?" I asked.

"I thought it was just me?!" she whisper yelled.

"Do you think it's just a coincidence? I mean, I haven't seen them yet. I don't know if that means they're sneaking around to attack us, or ---"

I was cut off as a big whiff of vampire scent filled my nose. I could see that it had caught Vanita as well. We both whipped our heads to the cafeteria door. In walked a family of five vampires. First, there was a gorgeous blonde, and a huge muscle-man type on her arm. Next was a small pixie like girl with a very serious looking blonde male. And lastly, there was the bronze haired boy. He was beautiful. I loved the way his hair looked messed up. And that crooked smile. Wait! What was I thinking? For all I know this boy could be here to kill me.

Vanita and I watched as the five of them took a seat in a table in the corner. They didn't interact with any of the humans. They were talking happily amongst themselves. Then, I noticed something strange about them. Every one of them had yellow eyes. That was odd. I was just about to say something to Vanita, when my phone vibrated. I looked at the screen, and my face lit up when I saw the name Sly. I showed it to Vanita. She and I immediately threw away our trays and hurried outside. I walked towards the parking lot and answered, putting it on speaker so that Vanita could hear.

"Sly!" we shouted.

"Hey, Nita. Hey, Bells. How've you guys been?"

"We miss you so much." I told him.

"I miss you too. Both of you. Where are you guys now?"

"We're in Forks." Vanita answered.

"How is it?" he asked.

'Don't tell him' I mouthed to her. If Sly found out there were five vampires here, he would track us down and make us move.

"It's great." She told hi quickly, "We really like the school."

"Sly, I'm so sick and tired of going to school now. I've been doing it for way too long now. I shouldn't have to repeat high school so many times. If people didn't know any better they'd swear I was remedial for having gone through it so many times." I whined.

"You have to go." He said with authority, "You can't stay home. How would it look if two teenage girls with no parental supervision just ran around all day and didn't go to school? People would get suspicious."

"Then you should just let us come live with you." I mumbled, but Sly definitely heard with his super hearing.

"No!"

"But Sly ---"

"No way," he said firmly, "It's way too dangerous, especially for you. I can't take the risk of you getting hurt like last time."

"I'd be way more careful. I miss you way too much. I can't keep going without seeing you for years at a time." I told him.

"I'm sorry. You know I miss you both, but I am so close to catching Khris. I might even be able to talk to her, and reason with her. If she sees you and you guys start fighting, all that will go to hell and we'll be right back where we started. You can not come find me. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I understand." I said gloomily.

"Hey. Cheer up." He told me, hearing the sad tone in my voice, "You'll see me soon. And now that I know where you are I might be able to come and visit."

"Really?" I said, now full of hope.

"Yup."

"Yay!" Vanita yelled before I could.

Just then, the bell rung.

"That was the bell. We gotta go, Sly."

"Alright. Just remember what I said. And be safe. I love you guys."

"Love you, too." We said before hanging up. As Nita and I headed in opposite directions for class, I was extremely torn. On the one hand, I was happy that Sly had called. I had been dying to hear his voice for three months now. On the other hand, I knew that this phone call was going to mess me up. I hadn't seen Sly in three years and I missed him like crazy. I would probably be thinking about him and his warnings later on.

I entered my Biology class. The teacher sent me to the only seat available. It was right beside the bronze haired vampire. Oh no. this was bad. I went to take a seat, and avoided eye contact. The vampires seemed safe enough, but I still couldn't risk getting involved. They might report us to the Volturi if they found out what Nita and I were. I couldn't risk both our lives just because this boy looked like an angel. How ironic that he was the exact opposite. Luckily, we were taking notes, so there was no excuse for either of us to have to talk to each other. But me being the curious person I was, I had to look. I was using my hair as a mask. I peeked between the strands to get a look at the boy. I noticed for the first time that he was on the extreme edge of his chair, which was as far away from me as the desk would allow. And he wasn't breathing. When the bell rang, we both jetted out of there. He got up before I did, and was out the door before I was. If I was lucky, the boy didn't like me and we didn't have to make any unnecessary contact for the rest of the school year. But this same theory saddened me.

After my last class, I headed to the parking lot. Vanita was already waiting for me.

"You were right," I told her while getting into the car.

"I usually am, but about what imparticular this time?"

"About the Philosophy teacher. Dr. Pattin is cool."

"Oh. I told you. And you were right about the World History teacher."

"I could get used to Forks."


	3. Chapter 3

I shot up in my bed. It was dark, but I could see perfectly. I saw my hands shaking. My whole body was shaking. My face was drenched in sweat, which caused my hair to stick to my face. For the past week I had been having the same nightmare.

_Dream:_

_I was standing in a room with an older boy and girl that looked like me, and two beautiful beings. The other two children were my brother and sister. The two beautiful adults were our parents. You could visibly see that one looked good, and the other looked evil. But despite their obvious contrast, they stared lovingly at each other. They also watched as my siblings and I played happily._

_Then the dream turned dark. I was older than I was in the other memory. My siblings and I were fooling around outside when we heard a terrible scream coming from inside. We knew that sound anywhere. It was our mother. Being the protective youngsters that we were, the three of us rushed inside to find my mother clutching at a white paper that smoked as if on fire. She was leaning into our father, and crying. My father called us to him and pulled us into the hug. We were all terribly lost. We were too young to really understand what was wrong. The next thing we knew, we were in a misty place. It was a pinkish white everywhere. There was a long table in the center. At one end of the table sat a large, angelic figure. That was God. At the other end stood a demonic figure that had all the beauty and appeal that evil usually did. That was Lucifer himself._

_We stood there watching as they scolded both my parents. I was too young to understand at the time, but I definitely understand now. My mother was being exiled from heaven for treason. My father was going to be executed by Lucifer for the same. God returned to heaven, while we were transported to hell. We had to watch as Lucifer executed both of our parents. He executed our mother because he blamed her for causing my father to turn against him._

_But the dream turned darker still. There were flashes of my sister attacking me, and my brother holding her off. I remembered how she bit be, and how I had burned her. She and I had fought a countless number of times. The last thing I saw was her biting into my flesh before I was shocked awake_

I struggled to breathe as the memories flowed through my already jumbled mind. I knew that phone call from Sly was going to mess me up. I should've prepared myself for this. My mind was too busy focusing on something it shouldn't be.

On our second day of school, we had sat with a new friend named Angela. She was way too kind for us to ignore like we did everyone else. She may have been sweet, but her friends had some really colorful personalities. There were three boys Mike, Tyler and Eric, who were desperately trying to get us interested in them. As if. Then there was Jessica and Lauren. Jessica was definitely a motor mouth who loved gossip. But at least she had a likeability quality. Lauren just flat out hated us for no reason.

Jessica's mouth had one perk. She was able to divulge a lot of information to us about the Cullens. We discovered that the blondes were Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The pixie girl was Alice Cullen, the muscle man was Emmett Cullen, and the bronze haired boy was Edward Cullen. The cover story was that they were all adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Cullen. They were also paired off, but anyone could see that. What perplexed me was that Edward wasn't at lunch. I looked at the table countless times, but he never showed. He also didn't show up for Biology. I wondered what could possibly keep a vampire out.

At first, I thought it was just a coincidence. Then, he didn't show up for school the next day. And the next. When he didn't show up on Friday, I began to wonder. Was it me? Did I really have that strong of an affect on someone I never spoke to? Was he so used to having the table all to himself that he had to leave? I had spent way too much time thinking about Edward. Between him and Sly, my mind was exhausted. That was the cause for me sleeping so much, which was the cause for these nightmares.

I looked at my clock and saw that it was three in the morning. I couldn't go back to sleep not, and I didn't want to risk it anyways. The nightmares would just come back. I also didn't want to wake Vanita, so I grabbed my copy of Wuthering Heights, and retreated to the roof. I laid back, gazing up at the moon, before beginning the book for probably the thousandth time. This would look so weird to a human, but I could see perfectly in the dark. Oh well, time to follow the love of the selfish Heathcliff and Catherine.

It took me forever to realize that Vanita was screaming my name. I had been so engulfed in the book that I hadn't notice the sun come up. I swung back in through my window just as she was walking past my room.

"What were you doing on the roof? Never mind. Get dressed. We're gonna be late." She practically hollered.

"Yes ma'am." I answered sarcastically. Vanita shot me a glare before leaving me to get ready. I quickly brushed my teeth before proceeding to get ready. I pulled on some jeans, and a stylish and colorful shirt. I brushed my hair into a high ponytail, and rushed downstairs. I found Vanita with her arms folded, impatiently tapping her stiletto boots. She too was in jeans, half covered by her black boots. Her shirt was a black suede sweater over a black tank. The hood of her sweater was pulled over her head. She didn't want the rain to ruin her hair.

"Let's go." She commanded. I followed her out to the garage. She rushed me into the car.

"I don't understand what you're so worried about. You know that there's no way we'll be late. And besides, it's just school."

"You are so lazy. You have to go to school. If you don't, I'll call Sly."

"That was uncalled for."

"Extreme times call for extreme measures." She replied coolly. I simply rolled my eyes at her, and kept driving. We reached school with ten minutes to spare.

"What did I tell you?" I asked while putting the car in park, "We're not late. We're early."

"That's only because you drive like a maniac." Nita said while getting out.

"You're one to talk. When you figure out what car you want, then we'll see who the real maniac is."

"Whatevs. Let's go."

She swung her bag onto her shoulder and walked inside. Vanita wasn't one to carry an actual book bag; she was much too stylish for that. Instead, she chose to use those fashionable yet oversized bags. Even though they reminded me of beach bags, I still owned a few. I tried to convince her to get one like mine. It was practically the same thing, only in book bag form. She declined. Her heels clicked and my converses slid all the way to class.

We were sitting at the table with our --- I want to call them friends, but the only real friend there was Angela. The others were either interested in us, or jealous of us. We were discussing how evil Ms. Perez was. The others were complaining because of the five page essay that she assigned, and was only giving a week to do. Vanita and I only joined in because the woman hated us. Lauren should like her for that reason alone.

As the Cullens entered the cafeteria, Vanita and I turned to look. I watched as five vampires made their way to the usual table. Edward was back, and he was still glaring at me. What had I done to this kid? I would say that I'd been nothing but nice, but he hadn't even given me the chance to do _that_. Ugh! Why was I so conflicted? I was angry with Edward for causing me all the stress that he had. My hand balled up into a fist on top of the table. Vanita leaned over to my ear and whispered 'Don't'. I unclenched my hand, calmed myself down, and returned to the conversation. Sly wouldn't be too happy with me if I exposed myself. He would be especially upset if he found out that it was to vampires.

As I entered biology, Edward was already seated. I took my seat next to him, and began to take out a paper and pen. Today was another note taking day. When he was gone it wouldn't have taken me more than five minutes to copy the board, because I could've used some of my abnormal speed. Now that he was back, I had to be careful and act like a normal human. As I was copying, I heard a voice smoother than silk.

"Hello." Oh my goodness! It was Edward. He was actually speaking to me. I turned to look at him, "I haven't been able to properly introduce myself. I'm Edward Cullen."

I don't know what came over me, but I actually answered politely, "I'm Bella Swan."

"It's nice to meet you, Bella."

That's when the attitude kicked in, "I would say the same about you, but you don't seem to like me very much."

"What do you mean?"

So he was going to play dumb, "I mean, what's with all those looks you've been giving me?"

"Oh, that. It was nothing. I was just curious about you is all."

"And that's why you disappeared last week?" I asked.

"I went to visit a friend."

That was such a lame excuse. If he was posing as a human, he should've at least used illness as an excuse. But I wouldn't say any of this out loud, "Oh." Was all I said before returning to my note taking.

"So how do you like Forks so far?" he asked. Was I going crazy or was he actually trying to make small talk with me. I knew I wasn't supposed to get involved, but something about him made me want to answer back. I was torn but eventually gave in and answered his question.

"It's okay, I guess. The town is pretty small; much smaller than I would've preferred. And it's wet. Vanita likes it better than I do."

"This is the rainiest place in the continental U.S."

"I see that now."

"So, are you and Vanita sisters, or…"

"Yes. Well, no. Not technically. We're just like sisters. She's my best friend."

"You two seem really close."

"We are."

We both returned to our notes. I got tired of writing so long, and kicked up the pace. I hadn't noticed how fast I'd been writing. I managed to finish before Edward, and decided that it was my turn to interrogate.

"So tell me about your family." I said.

"I'm sure you've already heard all the rumors."

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you."

He put down his pen, and turned to me, "There are my two elder brothers, Jasper and Emmett. They're seniors, along with my sister Rosalie. Emmett is very playful, despite his intimidating size. Jasper is the serious one, and Rosalie is vain. Alice is my super hyper sister. She loved to shop, and is almost always in a good mood. She's the optimist. But even with their quirks, I love them."

"I hear your father is a doctor."

"Yes. He works at the hospital."

"And what about your mother?"

"She prefers to stay at home and tend to the house. She's one of the most loving and caring people you could ever meet. And our father is so forgiving."

"You sound like you really do."

"I do. We all do. Sometimes I feel like we take them for granted. We couldn't ask for two better parents."

"That's sweet."

"What about you? What are your parents like?" he asked. I winced as painful memories entered my mind, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just prefer not to talk about my parents."

"Why? Do they hurt you?" he almost growled. Why would he be so upset about someone hurting me? He didn't even know me.

"No. It's nothing like that. It's just…they're…dead."

"Oh. I am terribly sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't know."

"So who do you live with?"

"Vanita."

"You have no guardian."

"Nope."

"How did you manage to get away with that?"

"What's with the interrogation?" I asked lightly, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you worked for child services."

"Just curious is all. I can usually read people very well, but you're harder to figure out."

"I'm a mystery."

"As I can see."

We were staring wordlessly into each other's eyes. I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, but we were broken out of the trance by the bell. This time, neither of us rushed to get out. We slowly packed up out belongings.

"See you around." I said while slinging my bag over my shoulder and leaving the room.

"You as well, Ms. Swan."

What had I just done? I wouldn't tell Vanita about that just yet. She would flip out, and with good reason. I had done stuff like this before. Not only was I endangering my life, but hers as well. I had to get her to warm up to them before I sprung this on her, or she'd call Sly and have him drag me away by my hair. I sighed heavily and went to Philosophy.


	4. Chapter 4

I had managed to keep my friendship with Edward a secret form Vanita for two whole weeks. I was beginning to really like Forks. A part of me wanted to thank Edward for that. He was really easy to talk to. Even though I only saw him for one period a day, it felt like so much longer. We talked about anything and everything. I was careful not to give too much away when he asked about my personal life. He was also just as careful when I purposefully attacked him with questions I knew he's have to lie about.

There was another part of me that was screaming for more attentions. That was the side that knew I shouldn't be fraternizing with Edward. I was supposed to be trying to stay as far away from him as possible. That was the part of me that kept me guarded. I worked hard not to get emotionally attached to him. I knew that I would have to leave him the minute we graduated.

I was on my way to the cafeteria, when someone pulled me aside. Vanita had dragged me from the hallway into a closet.

"What are we doing in the custodian's closet?" I asked her.

"I've been hearing a lot of rumors about you and Edward. So he's the reason why you warmed up to this place so quickly. I can't believe you would ---"

"Whoa. Calm down, Nita. Maybe you should ask me before you start accusing me."

"Are you sneaking around with Edward?"

"No. As for the rumors, he and I are lab partners. We have to work together. People see us in class and assume the worst."

"Okay. I'm sorry I accused you. I'm just so scared for the both of us."

"I know. I get it. And I wouldn't put either of us in danger like that. I may have made this mistake before, but I've learned from it. I'll be careful." I told her. I felt so bad lying to her about Edward. The only way for me to make up for it was to make the lie true and stop talking to him.

I was anxious all through lunch. I could feel Edward's eyes on me, but I refused to risk a glance in his direction. Instead, I put too much energy into the conversation the table was having. When the lunch bell rang I dreaded going to biology. How was I going to end my friendship with Edward? He was the one person here, besides Vanita, that I felt comfortable telling everything to. Not that I actually did tell him everything. If things worked out, he and his family could actually be the first vampires that we could actually trust. That dream had been shot to how. Oh well, if the dream didn't end up there, then Vanita and I probably would. Better it than us.

I was preparing myself for what I had to do; but as soon as I took a seat beside Edward and saw his crooked smile, I knew I couldn't do it. How could I shatter that beautiful face? Even if he was a vampire, I couldn't hurt him like that. As Edward and I started up our usual conversation, I came to the conclusion that there was only one thing left for me to do; tell Vanita the truth. I would do it the moment we got home.

When class was over, Edward surprised me by doing something so out of the blue.

"Can I walk you to class?"

I chewed my lip nervously. I didn't want to turn him down. My heart was begging me not to crush him. But my head was telling me the logic. If Vanita were to see him walking me to class, hell might break loose in the hallway. Eventually, my heart won out over my head.

"Sure." I said. Edward and I walked out of class. I told him I had philosophy next. As we were walking through the halls, Edward and I were receiving inverse glares from the entire student body. The girls were glaring at me and drooling over him, and the boys were glaring at him and drooling over me. This is exactly what I was worried about. I knew that this was somehow going to get back to Nita; but I wouldn't let that ruin my moment. I enjoyed the walk while it lasted, talking with Edward the entire way; mostly about the looks we were getting.

"Here we are. Philosophy." He said.

"Thanks for walking me."

"Anytime."

"See you later." I said before turning into my class. I looked over my shoulder to find him waving. He ran off towards the building that held his class. Once I was in my seat, I felt ready to break down. I whispered to myself, "What have I gotten myself into?"

When the bell rang, I took my time getting out. I was trying to avoid Vanita, and took as long as possible to get to the car. I soon realized that this wasn't the best idea. Vanita was impatient, so having her wait on me would make the situation even worst. I quickly hurried to the car. As predicted, she was leaning against the car looking pissed.

"Vanita, I ---"

"Save it. We'll talk about this at home." She said. I opened the door and we both got in. The ride home was silent. I considered making the ride longer to stall the conversation I knew we were gonna have, but I didn't want to stay in the car with an angry Vanita for too long.

Once we reached the house, I parked in the garage. Vanita used superhuman speed to get out of the car, slamming the door behind her. I rushed after her. By the time I got in the house, she was halfway up the stairs.

"Nita. Vanita, just stop and listen to me."

She stopped dead in her tracks, spun on her heels, and was in my face within the second.

"Listen to you? Why would I listen to you? You lied to me, Isabella."

I winced. She had called me by my full name. She only did that when she was really pissed. I had to calm her down before ---

"I have half a mind to call Sly right now."

"No! Please don't."

"Then explain to me. I want a good explanation for why you're putting my life in danger."

"Vanita, I'm sorry. I want to tell you everything, but I'm afraid of how you're gonna react. You have to promise to listen to everything before you judge, and keep an open mind. Okay?"

"Fine."

"Come with me."

I led Vanita to our den and sat beside her on a couch.

"I might as well start from the beginning. Basically, I'm friends with Edward. I know I lied to you, and I'm sorry for that; but you wouldn't have accepted it if I told you from the beginning. And I realize that I've done things like this before that have gotten us in trouble, but what I have with Edward is really strong. I trust him."

She was silent for a few minutes. Silence with Vanita was never a good thing.

"Vanita?"

"I can't believe you." she said darkly before her volume increased, "I can't believe you would actually do this to me again. Let me guess, you like him right?"

"It's not even like that."

"It's never like that with you is it? Then I find out that you and the vampire have feelings for each other. Isn't that how this story usually goes?"

"This time is different. Maybe I do have feelings for Edward, but this isn't the same as the other times. Their family is different. I can tell. The way he talks about them; there's so much love."

"You know what? You can save all your excuses. I don't want to hear them anymore. If you want Edward so bad, then you can have him."

Before I could call out to her, Vanita disappeared. I heard a loud slam signifying that she was in her room. I listened to see if she was calling Sly. I heard nothing of the sort, so I relaxed a little. Though God had never been on my side, I silently prayed that I hadn't lost my best friend. I would give her a few hours to cool down before I approached her.

At around half past midnight, I crept into Vanita's room. She was laying silently on her bed, her back facing me. I knew she wasn't sleeping. Cautiously, I walked over to her bed, and climbed in behind her. She turned to face me, her eyes conveying so many emotions. I saw anger, fear, hurt, worry, and anxiety all mixed into one. I couldn't believe I had caused her so much pain. I looked at her tear stained cheeks and immediately began apologizing.

"Vanita, I'm so sorry. I never meant to betray you. I didn't want to lie, I was just so afraid of what you would think of me. I'm selfish and I don't deserve a friend like you. You've stuck by me through everything. Even when I make a mess of our lives, you're still there, and I love you for that. Can you forgive me?"

I watched as the corners of her mouth turned into a smile, "You know I'm going to forgive for anything. I love you like crazy, and nothing you ever do will change that. I don't like this situation, and I don't trust the Cullens, but if you really have feelings for Edward, then I won't get in your way."

"Thank you." I moved to hug her, but she stopped me.

"Hold up. There is a condition. You can go ahead with whatever you and Edward are doing, but if I see the slightest hint of trouble from any of them, I won't hesitate to call Sly."

"No problem. Whatever you say goes."

"Now you can hug me." With both of us laughing, I pulled her into a tight embrace. She pulled away first, and looked into my eyes, "Be careful."

"I will. I promise."

"Let's go hunting." She said with a smile. Hunting always made her happy. It was something about the thrill of the chase that got her all riled up.

"Okay. Come on."

We ran into the woods, and began our hunt. We hunted well into the early hours of the morning. We were being very reckless. By the time we got into the house, we were a mess. My shirt was shredded. Vanita's pants were ripped, and there was dirt caked into our hair. We took one look at each other and busted out laughing. We raced upstairs and darted into the bathrooms. It took us hours to get clean. I had washed my hair about three times in the scorching water before I finally jumped out of the shower.

After I was dressed, I went looking for Vanita. I followed her scent downstairs into the kitchen. I found her sitting at the counter with a faraway look in her eyes. She snapped out of it as I took a seat next to her.

"What's up, Nita."

"Just thinking."

"About…?"

"Have you ever thought about how different our lives would be if we were normal?"

"We'd be dead by now if we were normal. And we wouldn't have had much of a life when we were around. Actually, we wouldn't have met if we were normal."

"I know that. The one good thing that comes out of this is you and Sly. But still, sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to make life long friends at school, to eat normal food all the time, to not have to worry about being caught and dragged to hell. If we were human we might actually have a chance at heaven. This life has cursed us. The two of us are the exception to God's little rule of compassion."

I scooted my seat over and threw my arm around her, "I know what you mean. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like without all the running. If my family wasn't so screwed up immortality might be something to look forward to. I don't wanna run forever. It's tiring."

"It's exhausting." Vanita corrected.

"But what are we gonna do. At least this way we have some happiness. And if I ever get Sly back, I might actually be okay with living on the run for the rest of eternity. It's not all that bad."

"At least I have you."

"And I have you."


	5. Chapter 5

I know I've been keeping you guys in the dark about what they are. Everyone is so anxious. You guys will find out soon enough. I know. I'm evil. But I love you guys.  
________________________________________________________________________

After Vanita and I had had our little episode, I felt strange around Edward for a while. I had admitted to Vanita that I had real feelings for him. I had had feelings for other vampires before, but never like this. There was just something about him that made me want to…I don't even know. I wouldn't pursue him though. For one thing, once we graduated school, Vanita and I had to disappear. We never got attached to anyone longer than high school because we would endanger them. Even if I did choose to stay with Edward, I knew Vanita never would, and I would never leave her. And two, I didn't think Edward had the same feelings for me that I did for him. I would settle for friendship.

Edward's and my friendship was growing by the day. Each week that passed, we got stronger. I had been in Forks for two months straight. I was comfortable, and I felt safe. I had a great friend in both Angela and Edward. Vanita and I went shopping with Angela and spoiled her with new outfits and gifts. Edward and I had talks that sometimes got me through the day. We never talked about the same thing twice. There was always something new that would captivate our attention.

It was the middle of March, on a rainy Thursday. The day had started out as ordinary as any other. Then, Edward did the unthinkable. I was on my way to lunch when he caught me at the door.

"Hello, Kayla."

"Hi, Edward. How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm great actually. Today's been kind of boring, but it's relaxing."

"Well, how about we liven things up a bit. Would you like to sit with me and my family?"

I had to struggle very hard to keep my jaw from falling open. Did he just ask what I think he asked? I knew the right thing to do would be to politely decline, but one look into his honey eyes and I was done for.

"That'd be nice. You go ahead; I'll be there in a sec. I just have to talk to Vanita really quick."

"Okay. I'll see you soon."

He walked ahead of me into the cafeteria. Once he was gone, I leaned against the wall and took slow, deep breaths. I was preparing myself for Vanita. She had been civil about my friendship with Edward so far, but ditching her for him would be crossing the line. She understood how I felt, but that didn't change the fact that she would hold this over my head for a while. I could sense her nearby in the café, so I knew she had heard. I stood up, squared my shoulders, and headed inside. I greeted everyone at the table, before I crouched down beside her. At first she ignored me.

"Vanita!" I snapped quietly. She turned her head toward me, "Don't be like that. You know I love you more and you come first. It's just this once."

She sighed deeply, "Go."

"Really?" I replied with a huge smile.

"Yes. I have Angela. But you owe me big time. They're losing major points for this."

I gave her a warm smile, "Thank you."

I stood up, and proceeded across the cafeteria to the Cullen table. Edward, ever the gentleman, stood up and pulled out a seat for me. I thanked him and took a seat. He was on one side of me, and Alice was on the other. Jasper was on Alice's other side, and Rosalie and Emmett were next. They all gave me a welcoming smile; accept Rosalie, who looked a bit apprehensive.

"Bella, this is Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie. Everyone, this is Bella swan."

"It's nice to meet you all."

"It's so nice to meet you too, Bella." Alice said. She had a very bubbly personality. I looked at her Italian leather boots and knew right away that I liked her.

At first, I felt a bit out of place. I felt like I was invading on their family time. But once Emmett began with his jokes, and home stories about Edward, I lightened up and joined in. I found that it was easy to talk with them once I loosened up. They were very pleasant people despite the rumors. I lost track of time, and noticed all too late that the cafeteria was almost empty.

"I think we should go or we'll be late." I said, "This was fun."

"I agree." Jasper said.

"We should do it again." Alice suggested.

"I'll see."

"Before you go," Emmett said, "You should come over tomorrow."

"Um…" I was definitely stumped on this one. I had a lot of fun with them. We all generally liked each other. Even Rosalie had warmed up to me, though she was still a bit wary.

"Oh, come on. Don't worry about you friend. She'll get over it." Emmett prodded.

"You don't know Vanita." I said doubtfully. She would never get over it.

"You know you want to." Emmett continued, "Say yes. Say yes." He chanted.

After a couple more say yeses, and looking into every one of their golden eyes, I gave in. "Okay. I'll talk to her."

"Yes." Emmett cheered.

I rolled my eyes and pulled Edward. We had about a minute to get to Biology before we were late. I'd be amazed if we made it.

Somehow, Edward and I managed to get to class just before the bell rang. I think Vanita might have been using her dominion over time to give me some extra time. I mentally thanked her as I took my seat. She was always so caring of me, I couldn't believe I was about to upset her again. Maybe I'd get lucky and she wouldn't flip out so badly.

"You want to what?!" Vanita shouted at me. Apparently my luck had run out.

"Come on, Nita. Please?"

"You want me to let you go to a house full of vampires, alone? Are you crazy? Just come shopping with me and Angela instead."

"Vanita, I already told them I'd talk you into letting me come. Just let me talk you into it. It's not like I can't handle myself. Let me go just this once."

"You know Sly would never let you get away with something like this."

"But Sly's not here right now. What he doesn't know won't kill him."

"No; but it might kill you."

"Please, Nita. Pretty pretty please with sugar on top." I stuck out my bottom lip and gave her my best puppy dog face.

"Oh, alright. You can go."

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

"But text me as soon as you get there, and when you're leaving. Text me if anything goes wrong, and don't stay out too late."

"Yes, _mom_."

"Don't make me change my mind."

"Okay. Okay. Sorry."

"Now, on to more important matter. I've decided on what kind of car I want."

"Fi-nal-ly."

"Shut up."

I stood up, and Vanita and I walked outside. I stood in the driveway and closed my eyes. Vanita began describing exactly what kind of car she wanted so that I could get a mental image.

"I want a cherry red, drop top Bentley. Black leather interior and tinted windows."

I concentrated on what she had told me. It took a minute, but soon, there was a brand new Bentley in our driveway. Vanita screamed as she rushed into her new car. The keys were already in the ignition.

"Now I don't have to rely on you for a ride. And I can really go shopping with Angela now." She started the car and patted the seat, "Come on. Let's take her for a test drive."

I dashed to the car and hopped in. Vanita put the top down and rolled down the window. I conjured up two pairs of sunglasses, and handed one to her. Now we had the total diva look.

Vanita and I had taken her car all the way to Canada. We drove there and back at two hundred miles per hour. The ride was exhilarating. I loved the rush. Today, I was anxiously awaiting the end of school. The clock seemed to be against me. I watched as the seconds slowly ticked away. I felt tortured. I was supposed to be going to the Cullen's house today after school. My classes were dragging on, causing me to feel like I was going insane.

Finally, the last bell rang. I sprang from my seat and darted outside. Somehow, Vanita was already there, waiting for me. She was standing between our cars.

"Okay, remember what I said. Call me, even for the slightest thing. I don't want you coming back with so much as a broken nail, you got that? I'll be out with Angela until about ten or eleven. I don't want you there after that. Do not stay out all night."

"Okay, I get it."

"And, Bella, please be careful. If anything happens to you, I'll die."

I hugged Vanita tightly while whispering to her, "Don't be so dramatic."

She pulled away.

"I'm being concerned."

"Let's not have a whole movie scene, okay? You're gonna see me later. I will come home. So don't worry so much. You don't wanna give yourself wrinkles."

That got her to laugh. I watched as Vanita climbed into her car. The moment she was gone, I felt the presence of five vampires behind me. I turned to stare into the faces of the Cullens.

"Were you guys just waiting for Vanita to leave?"

"Maybe." Emmett replied with a smirk.

"Oh, come on. She is not that scary?"

"She doesn't like us very much." Jasper said.

"Don't worry about that. Vanita just doesn't take well to…new people. Or rather, new people that remind her of old people. Ignore her." I assured them, "So, are we going or not?"

"Follow us in your car. Alice will drive --- "

"No way!" I cut him off, "No one drives my car but me. She can ride with me to make sure I don't get lost, but she is not driving."

"Okay. Okay. Sorry." Edward quickly apologized.

"Sorry. I'm just a little overprotective when it comes to my car."

"We see." Emmett joked.

I rolled my eyes before walking to the driver's side of my car. I climbed in as Alice got into the passenger's side. As I suspected, Jasper came with us to be with Alice. Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie climbed into Edward's Volvo. Edward pulled out of the parking lot, and I followed close behind. He was only going 80 miles per hour. I could tell he had slowed it down because he thought I was a human. It was my experience that vampires generally loved to go fast, so I knew he was itching to kick up the speed. Truthfully, so was I. This was the slowest I'd ever driven. I endured it for appearances sake.

I was extremely happy when Alice told me that the house was five minutes away. I had been getting so bored with driving. She showed me where the turnoff was, and then we drove through what seemed like endless road of bushes and trees. Soon, a giant house came into view. It had to be at least three stories tall.

"Your house is beautiful." I said.

"Thank you." Alice replied, "I helped my mother design it."

"Well, you two did a great job." I said, sounding a bit detached. My full attention was on the house. It truly was a beauty. I walked behind Alice into the house. Once inside, I spun in circles as I took it all in. While the houses that Vanita and I lived in were always openly extravagant, this house had a shy elegance to it. I heard the others giggling behind me, snapping me back into reality.

"I want your house." I stated.

"We can tell." Edward commented. I laughed at myself, realizing I must look like a child in a candy shop.

"Do I get to meet your parents?"

"Of course. Follow me." Edward grabbed my hand, and my heart gave a little jump. He laughed lower than a human would be able to hear, having heard my heart's reaction to his touch. I mentally scolded myself, trying to keep my emotions in check, as I let Edward drag me to the kitchen.

There we found a beautiful, brown haired woman cutting vegetables --- obviously for my sake since they didn't eat human food, --- and a gorgeous blonde man standing by her side. They both looked up as we entered the room. The others scattered around the kitchen, but Edward stayed by my side. I wonder if he realized he was still holding my hand. This was the one time when I wished Sly was here. He could read people so well; in a much more literal sense than you'd think.

"Hello." I said sweetly.

"You must be Bella. Edward has told us so much about you. I am Esme, and this is my husband Carlisle."

"It's nice to meet you both." I looked at all the things that Esme had spread around the place. I didn't want her to have to cook all this food only for it to go to waste. She was so nice. I also didn't want her to have to clean up just because of me. I made a spur of the moment decision that could change everything for me.

"You can cut the charade. I already know."

"What are you talking about, dear?" Esme asked.

"You can stop cooking all this food. I know you guys are vampires."

For what seemed like hours, there was a deadly silence. And then, the fireworks came. First, their faces turned into shock, then horror, then confusion, and finally all three were mixed in with curiosity.

"H-How did you k-know?" Jasper stuttered.

"Maybe we should sit down somewhere." I suggested. Esme looked as though she was ready to pass out.

"I think that would be wise." Carlisle agreed. We all moved into the den. For a moment, I was shocked at how bright and open things were, but I realized I had more important things to think about. As I sat, I noticed Edward's hand had never left mine. My emotions fluctuated, making me smile a bit. I put myself in check, and began explanation, leaving out the parts that would expose me. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I had no idea how to start.

"Well?" Emmett urged impatiently.

"Right. Sorry. Umm…well, I guess all I have to say is that it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. All anyone would have to do is pay attention. I mean, you guys are way too pale, you never eat anything, Edward's hand in ice cold." I said raising both our hands, "It was pretty obvious. Why else would anyone this rich move to a town this small?"

"She makes a good point." Emmett said.

"We moved here so that we wouldn't risk exposure. Apparently, it didn't work." Carlisle said nervously. Instantly, I realized what had just crossed his mind.

"Oh no! I would never --- I won't --- I'm not gonna expose you guys. That would be cruel for me to invade your lives and cause all this chaos."

"Bella, can we trust you?" Carlisle asked.

"With your lives." I replied with a smile. I received answering smiles from everyone in the room. Even Rosalie complied.

"Why don't you give Bella a tour of the house, Edward." Esme suggested.

"Sure. That's a great idea. Let's go, Bella."

He pulled me up with the hand that had never let go, and we hurried upstairs. I was right about the three story thing. We traveled along both floors. He showed me Carlisle's office, Jasper's concentration room, Emmett's workout room, Alice and Jasper's room, Rosalie's and Emmett's room, and Carlisle and Esme's room. Finally, we came to the end of the hall where his room lied.

He seemed a bit nervous about letting me into his room. What would he have to be nervous about? I'm the one that should technically be nervous. Tired of waiting for him to open the door, I reached forward and did it myself. I tugged him along as I entered his room. I took everything in. Against one wall was a stereo and shelves full of CD's. Against the other wall was a large couch. There was a door that I knew must lead to his enormous closet. I tried to pull my hand from his, but he wouldn't let me. I turned back around to grin at him. He smiled, embarrassed at his behavior, and let me go. I walked towards his stereo.

"Let's see what you were listening to." I said while pressing play. Immediately, Debussy's Claire de Lune filled the room, "I love this song. It's classic."

"You like Debussy?"

"Don't sound so surprised. I'm very cultured."

He laughed and stalked forward until he was right in my face, "Would you like to dance?"

I struggled very hard to keep my heart from accelerating. Edward didn't give me a chance to answer; he simply grabbed my waist, and began swaying me around. With me body so close to his, I couldn't control my heart's reaction. It was practically beating right out of my chest. This seemed to amuse Edward.

"I seem to have a strong affect on that little heart of yours."

"Shut up." I groaned, averting my eyes from his face. Edward put a finger under my chin, and pulled my face up. His eyes bore into mine.

"I always wanted to try one thing. Stay perfectly still. Okay?"

I simply nodded in agreement as his face inched closer to mine. Slowly, ever so gently, his lips pressed against mine. At first, I was obedient, and the kiss was controlled. But I couldn't control myself. I reacted, throwing my arms around his neck and gluing myself to his body. Edward didn't fight it as I backed him onto his couch, and crawled onto his lap. He reversed out positions so that I was lying under me. Just as I gripped his hair, he flew away from me.

"We can't." he said firmly. I started to rise, but he put a hand up to stop me, "No. Just…stay there…while I catch my breath."

I did as he said, folding my hands in his lap. Soon, he gained enough control to come back to me. He held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. Edward guided me out onto his balcony, and pulled me to sit. No longer was I nervous about being in his house. His family accepted me, and I finally knew that he had the same feelings for me that I had for him. I laid back and he mimicked my actions. As usual, I questioned him. Now that he knew that I knew he was a vampire, I could really ask anything I wanted. The first thing I asked about was his eyes. He told me that the color was because they chose to drink animal blood instead of human. This made me smile. His family was so full of compassion. Maybe this could work out after all.

I opened my eyes to find that I was in an unfamiliar room. It was nighttime. I felt a pair of arms around my waist, and twisted around to see who it was. I came face to face with Edward. We were lying on his couch.

"Nice of you to wake up."

I hadn't even realized I fell asleep. Then chains started forming in my mind. Sleep. Bed. Home. Vanita. I quickly sat up and checked my phone for the time. It was well past two thirty in the morning.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed.

"What's the matter?"

"I have to go, like, yesterday." I shot up and darted out of his room. I was running down the stairs, and almost made it out the door when I encountered his family. Carlisle immediately noticed the horror in my eyes.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm so dead. Vanita is gonna kill me."

"You're scared of her too? What happened to all that confidence earlier?" Emmett questioned.

"This is different. I am in so much trouble. It's hard to explain, but I have to go. I had a great time, and I'll see you at school if I survive."

Before they could respond, I was out the door and inside my car. I turned the key and stomped on the gas. I had to get home as fast as possible. There was no avoiding what would happen when I got there. How could I have let myself fall asleep for so long? As much as Vanita didn't like the Cullens before, she would definitely hate them now.

When I got home, I ran through the door and up to Vanita's room. I busted through the door to find her sitting on the bed. She had been staring at the door, waiting for me to come through.

"Vanita, I'm sor---"

"Where the hell have you been?!"

"I lost track of time. I fell asleep and ---"

"You fell asleep in a house full of vampires?! How could you be so careless? You are so gonna get it when Sly gets here."

"Vanita, I didn't mean to --- hang on. Sly? What does Sly have to do with --- Don't tell me you called him?! Vanita?!"

"I was worried. I thought they'd done something to you. I didn't know if you were dead or alive. Of course I called Sly."

"What did you tell him?" I demanded furiously.

"Everything." She responded, just as full of anger as I was. I turned and began walking out, "Where are you going?"

"Out."

I stomped why way down the stairs and outside. I closed my eyes, and took a few deep breaths, concentrating. Beautiful, black angel wings emerged from my back. I crouched down and launched myself into the air. The huge gust of wind told Vanita that I had taken flight, and wouldn't be back for a while. I had to stay near the house. I didn't want the people in town reporting flying angels or UFO's. I spent the rest of the night flying. It was the only way I could think to calm down.

Whilst in flight, I played out the different scenarios of what would happen when Sly got here. I had tried to call him and tell him not to come. I told him that Vanita had made a mistake, and that I was alright. He was furious with me for associating with vampires. He was even more upset that I went to a house with seven vampires, alone. He was coming to straighten things out. Every scene that I played out in my head either ended in the Cullens and Sly fighting, Sly forcing me out of Forks, or both. I had to stop any of that from coming true.


	6. Chapter 6

When I walked back into the house, it was the time we would normally leave for school. Vanita was on her way out the door. I brushed past her without a word.

"I'm surprised you came back." She snorted.

"I had to. I wouldn't want you to tell on me." I replied hatefully.

"Are you coming to school or not?"

"Yeah. I'm in enough trouble as it is thanks to you."

"You know what, be that way if you want. I'm out of here." She said before slamming the door on her way to the garage.

"Fine. Who wants you around here anyway?" I said just loud enough for her to hear. The last thing I heard from her was a string of profanities in Arab, before the squealing of her tires signified that she was gone.

I realized that I would be late for school. I really didn't even want to go; but with the mood Vanita was in, she'd probably tell Sly every little thing. I couldn't believe all the people I cared about most were turning my life upside down. Sly, Vanita, Edward; this whole mess revolved around them. I could easily blame them for everything, but I knew that I had a part in this too.

I hurried up to my room and threw myself on my bed. Closing my eyes, I figured that since I was already going to be late, I might as well get some rest. My mind needed time to sort out this mess I called my life.

I got ready around the time I would be getting to my next class. I took a relaxing shower, did my hair, and threw on light jeans, a black shirt, and converses. Flying had felt so good last night that I considered going to school like that, but I couldn't risk it. I climbed into my Jag, and took off towards the school.

When I pulled into the parking lot at school, it was the middle of lunch. I could tell something was off, but I couldn't figure out what. I walked into the cafeteria building and walked towards my usual table. I saw the others, but Vanita wasn't there.

"Hey, guys. Angela, where's Nita?"

"I saw her head outside with the Cullens. None of them looked happy."

_Oh God!_ I shouted in my head. "Thanks." I said trying not to sound panicked, even though I was freaking out on the inside. I rushed through the back doors of the café, and headed to the other side of the parking lot. I knew something was wrong; I just knew it. As I rounded the corner, the scene before me was horrifying. The Cullens had Vanita cornered. They were looming over her, menacingly; but she just leaned against the wall, not even phased by the vicious looks they wore. And why would she be. Vanita could handle them all, no problem. I wasn't afraid for her; I was afraid for them.

"We're gonna ask you one more time," Emmett shouted, "What did you do with Bella?"

"For the last time, I didn't do anything to her."

"Don't lie to us," Rosalie snapped, "She ran out of the house this morning because she was worried about what you would say. She looked terrified. It's no coincidence she didn't show up for school today."

"You people are crazy. You honestly think I would hurt her? She's my best friend. How dare you even let that cross your minds?"

What happened next was definitely gonna push Sly over the edge when he found out. Vanita turned to leave, but Emmett put a firm hand on her shoulder. She whipped her head back around.

"Take your hand off me."

"You aren't going anywhere until we find out what happened to Bella." Emmett hollered. He pulled her back towards them. That's when she snapped. Vanita spun around faster than even they cold react, and caught Emmett by the throat. At first they thought it was nothing. They still assumed us to be mere humans. That all changed when Vanita tightened her grip, and lifted Emmett clear off the ground.

"Don't you ever put your hands on me again. You got it?"

This was too much. I had to stop it before things went too far. I ran over and placed a hand on Vanita's shoulder.

"Nita put him down!"

"No. They need to learn a lesson. They can't just tell people what to do and expect not to get a reaction."

"Vanita don't do this."

"Why not."

The evil look her eyes told me that she was in a faraway place; a dark place that I had to pull her out of before it was too late.

"Nita, this isn't the way. Think about what you're doing. As mad as Sly is going to be at me, think about what's gonna happen when he hears about this. Come on Vanita. We promised never to let this half of us take control. You're better than this. Put him down."

My words worked. She went her eyes went from murderous to slightly hostile, and she lowered Emmett back to the floor. Once Vanita released Emmett's throat, I immediately pulled her into a hug, cradling her head in my chest.

"I can't believe I went that far." She whispered, mostly to herself.

"It's okay. You didn't do it. You're okay."

"We're gonna have to tell Sly, aren't we?"

"As much as I would rather not, we do. He'll find out one way or the other. And you know I can't lie to him." It was true. As many times as I had tried, Sly could read me like an open book.

"And they're gonna want answers."

"Shh. Don't worry about that now. We should go home. Are you okay to drive?"

Vanita pulled away from me and wiped the couple of tears that had fallen from her eyes, "Yeah, I'm okay. Let's get out of here."

I threw my arm around Vanita's shoulder as we walked towards the side of the school where our cars were parked. I quickly turned back to the Cullens, "Please don't follow me. I know this looks bad, but I'll have a feeling I'll be explaining things to you sooner than I would've preferred; and under much worst circumstances. I'll see you."

I gave each of them a pointed look; my eyes lingering on Edward's face the longest. There was so much emotion in his eyes. Confusion, curiosity, and worst of all hurt. He was probably hurt that he had been so honest with me, while I had kept secrets from him. I couldn't take the pressure of his stare any longer, so I turned and continued to the cars. I helped Vanita in, before getting into my own car. The situation had no affect on our driving, since we were still speeding back to the house. Things could only go downhill from here.

True to that statement, things did get worse. When we got home, Vanita and I realized that we really didn't want to stay there. We decided it was time for a shopping trip. That would definitely take our minds off things. She wanted to drive, so I let her. Right before we got into the car, she stopped me.

"About what happened before, when I called Sly, I'm so sorry about that. And I'm sorry for the stuff I said about you and the Cullens. But you have to know that I was just acting like that because I care about you. I don't ever want to lose you."

"Vanita, it's okay. I understand perfectly. The only reason I threw that whole tantrum is because I knew I was gonna get in trouble with Sly. And I've learned my lesson after the tenth time. I would never put either of us in danger like that again. If I didn't have such strong feeling for Edward I wouldn't even be considering this. Do you forgive me?"

"Only if you forgive me."

I smile and threw my arms around her. We stayed like that for a while, just generally happy with each other. I let her go and we got into the car. We decided not to go too far away, and settled on shopping in Port Angeles. The shopping trip was beautiful. We found as many things to joke about as possible. Our bodies were sore from all the laughter. We hadn't laughed like that in so long, what with all the drama and everything. Our bodies were getting used to the feeling again.

We got home around ten. We had planned on just dropping off our shopping bags and going hunting. Things didn't work out as planned; they never do. The moment Vanita pulled into the driveway, I felt a presence. Under better circumstances, I would've been rushing inside; but that was not the case.

"Do you feel him?" I asked Vanita.

"Yeah, I can feel him." She answered stiffly.

"I can't face him; not yet. We should just ---"

"Don't even think about it." A voice called from inside, just loud enough for their sensitive ears to catch, "Get in here right now."

There was so much in those simple sentences. His words struck fear in our hearts. There was no way we could disobey. Vanita parked her car in the garage, and we climbed out of the car, leaving the shopping bags inside. We were in no hurry to get into the house. I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff, and I was walking to my death. After what seemed like too short a time, I was opened the door, and proceeded to walk inside. Running was not an option. Vanita and I followed the scent into the living room, and stopped at the door; too afraid to go any further.

"Hello, Sly."

"Bella. Nita. Any other day it'd be nice to see you, but not now. Come and sit." He pointed his head to the couch directly across from where he sat. Vanita and I slowly mad our way to the sofa, and sat, "I have just one question to ask. Why?"

"Sly, just let me explain."

"No. I am sick of this. Every time you do this you have an excuse. I'm done with the excuses. Just please tell me you didn't expose yourselves."

"Well, see, um…I ..."

Suddenly, Sly was too close, and I had to lean back against the chair.

"What did you do?!" he shouted at me.

"Leave her alone! It was me." Vanita bravely intervened.

"What?" Sly almost hissed, "You're the one who called me and said she was with the vampires in the first place."

"I know. But, I sort of had a little slip."

I saw that Sly was about to yell at her. I couldn't let her take all the blame knowing good and well that most of this was on me.

"Vanita, don't cover for me. Sly, this is all my fault. The vampires were worried about me. When I didn't show up for school, they thought Vanita did something to me. They cornered her, and wouldn't let her go. When Emmett grabbed her, she snapped and almost … well, you get the idea."

"They put their hands on you?" Sly said dangerously.

"Sly, no. don't you dare ---"

Too late. Sly was already up and on his way out the door. Vanita and I quickly followed him. Sly and I were faster than Vanita. Usually, Sly and I were evenly matched at everything; but when he was determined he got this adrenaline rush that boosted him up. He was in full protective mode, and I had a feeling things weren't gonna end well. The town was crawling with the Cullens' scent. The forest on the other side of town was definitely where they hunted. You could smell it. Sly traced their scent all the way to their house. He began to slow down a bit, so I took this as my chance to try and stop him. I ran in front of him, and threw my hands on his chest. I tried to push him backwards, but he was too strong for me. I was sliding backwards while trying to stop him.

Vanita had finally caught up, and watched in horror as Sly made it into the house. I was still trying to push him back when he entered the living room where all seven Cullens were sitting. They looked up, shocked and confused. Vanita had come to my aid, and was trying to pull him away from the Cullens.

"Sly, no. You don't wanna do this. Think of what this could mean for us if you go too far. I'm okay; I swear. They didn't hurt me."

But he paid her no mind. He was growling fiercely. I heard answering growls coming from the Cullens; all of whom had taken a defensive stance.

"No!" I shouted at them, "Please don't. I can take care of him. Just don't attack."

Though my words were strong, I suddenly felt myself become very weak. I eased up on Sly, and stood unsteadily in front of him. My hands flew to my head, trying to stop the oncoming migraine.

"Oh no. Not now."

Sly immediately refocused on me.

"Bella, are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

I screamed out in pain, clutching at the sides of my head. I couldn't stand the pain. I whispered Sly's name before collapsing into his arms. He cradled me, and rushed me to a vacant couch. Vanita was by my side as well. The Cullens had stopped their growling, and were watching in terror.

"Bells just breathe, okay. Deep breaths."

"Sly, it's coming."

"You have to stay with me. This link is dangerous. Don't let her into your mind."

I tried to stay fully conscious, but I couldn't. I was somewhat aware of what was going on around me, but I was dragged into the mind of another. I looked clearly through the other persons mind as she spoke to a very powerful group of vampires, who I knew very well.

"_I know that we have never seen eye to eye, but I've come to you for help." The person said._

"_What do you think gives you the right to come to us for help, when you've also tried to destroy us many a time?" A gorgeous mahogany haired woman with purple eyes, asked._

"_If I recall correctly, you have pursued me as many times as I have you. I merely wanted to kill you to protect myself. You were going to turn me in for ransom to gain favor. I say we're even."_

"_What do you want?" The woman asked rudely._

"_Now, now Heidi; be nice to our guest."_

"_Thank you, Aro." The person said, "On to business. I have come to help you in what you really want. Sylvester has been hunting me for ages. I am tired of it. I have decided to join forces with you just this once, and help you catch both Sylvester and Isabella."_

_There were gasps all over the room._

"_You would turn against your own and aid their sworn enemies."_

"_Desperate times call for desperate measures. And this arrangement is not without conditions. I have a link with both their minds. Most likely, it will be Isabella who receives this message. I can track them down when our minds link, as they are doing now. She is in Forks, Washington. I will help you to capture them both, but once you have them I go free. I will not be a captive in the flames of hell. Do we have a deal?"_

_The leader of the other vampires had deliberated with his brothers for a moment before coming to a consensus, "We accept."_

"NO!" I shouted as I was pulled from the vision.

"Bella, I'm here. Calm down and tell me what you saw."

I was almost too terrified to answer, "Khristalie…is coming…here. And she's not alone."

"Who would she dare to bring?" Vanita asked.

"She's done the unthinkable." I said, "She's joined up with the Volturi. She and they are coming for me and Sly. They'll probably take you too Vanita."

"What?!" both she and Sly hissed.

"How could she do something like this? I know she doesn't like you Bells, but this is more than crossing the line." Vanita said.

"She offered them us for her freedom. They turn us in, and she goes free."

"I won't let anything happen to any of us. We'll fight. They'll be at a disadvantage since Jane and Alec can't touch us. It'll be okay. I promise."

Vanita and I leaned into Sly's embrace. We had only been holding on to each other for a short time before throats cleared behind us. We turned to see the Cullens with expressions of confusion plastered on their faces.

"I suppose this looks a bit strange." I said, "You must want an explanation."

"That'd be nice." Emmett said sarcastically.

I swung my legs off the couch so that Vanita and Sly could sit beside me, "Have a seat and I'll explain everything."

I looked at Sly, apologetically; but all I saw in his eyes was kindness, "I trust you. If you think we can trust them, I'll trust your judgment. After all, if Vanita was trying to save them from me, they can't be all that bad."

I laughed a little before I turned my attention to the Cullens.


	7. Chapter 7

This little note is for all my dedicated fans. First of all, who else is excited about all the awards Twilight won at the MTV Awards, and the premiere of New Moon? I know I definitely am. I can't wait. Second, this is the chapter that a lot of people have been dying for. This is the chapter where I reveal the secrets of Bella's past, and tell exactly who Sly is. It might take a while because I want it just perfect; but I'm out of school now, so I have a lot of free time on my hand. Please review so I know how it turned out.

Love,

_Kas  
_________________________________________________________________________

"This is a little hard to explain." I began.

"Maybe you could start by telling us who _he_ is." Edward said sneeringly.

A slight grin appeared on my face, "This is Sylvester Cardonas Swan-Papoulias; my elder brother."

"Brother?"

"Yes, Edward, he's my brother."

"What? Are you gonna tell me Vanita's really your sister? Was that another lie?" he asked derisively.

"No. She's really just my best friend. She's close enough to the real thing though."

"Would you mind explaining to us exactly what you are?" Carlisle asked.

"I …we…it's complicated. And it's not exactly safe for either of us if you know." I answered.

"We can take care of ourselves. And we would never betray you; no matter what you tell us."

"Well, let's see if you can swallow this. We're half Angel and half vampire." I said, avoiding their faces.

"That's impossible!" Jasper shouted, "Your blood runs. You have a heartbeat. You have color. You…you…"

"Yes. Yes. I know. All of that is from our heavenly side."

"Maybe it would help if you just tell us the story." Carlisle said.

"Okay," I let my mind travel back. I released all the painful memories that I usually kept locked away, "My father was the first vampire. His name was Lucious, and he was one of the devil's most trusted and highly favored demons. Lucifer turned him into a vampire, and ordered him to create an entire race. My father obeyed, and created who you would consider the kings of the vampire world. He made Aro, Caius, and Marcus. The three of them came together and populated the Earth with vampires. My father left them to govern the vampire world on Earth."

"Later on, during one of those epic battles between good and evil, my father met my mother. She was an Angel named Lina-Sophia, who had been Greek and Italian before her immortal life. I'm not sure what happened, but one look and they were in love. Sophia, as she was called, fled with Lucious. They were married, and had three children. Sly is the eldest and I am the youngest. Obviously, with God being able to see everything, he knew all about it. Unfortunately, so did Lucifer. Two other brave souls --- a demon and an angel --- decided to risk following my parents' example, since they went unpunished. That's how Vanita was born."

"My family and I had been living comfortably for years. We had spent five years in Italy, and five years in Greece. My mother was teaching us about her cultures. When I was around ten, tragedy struck. With so many starting to disobey them, God and the Devil decided it was time to take action. They summoned us into limbo. There, God exiled my mother from heaven, and Lucifer sentenced both my parents to death. We had to watch as they were killed. Once it was over, we weren't allowed into heaven. Being the abominations we were, our family was made an example of. We were sent to live with Lucifer instead. All other vampires have a chance at redemption. You guys will probably make it into heaven; but there is no chance whatsoever for us."

"We were still children, so Satan was now our official guardian. This created complications for our family. We were already broken, so any little thing could've pushed us over the edge. Sly and I stayed very close, but my sister was another story. Evil had always been more dominant in her than in us. After what happened with God, my sister felt that he had no compassion. She didn't want heaven if it was like that. She let her evil half completely take over. She stuck close to Lucifer, learning from him. But, even though he did love her, she wasn't the one he wanted. It was me."

"The day Lucifer announced to the underworld that I was to be the heir to his throne, our family was shattered. My sister, Khristalie, she went crazy. She was jealous. After all the time that they spent together, and all her hard work and training, she though he was going to name her the heir. When he chose me, she turned against me. She started blaming me for everything bad in her life. She even blamed me for our parents' death. She's been trying to kill me for years. The first time she tried, Sly pulled us apart so that we wouldn't hurt each other. She ran after that. Because we all have this sort of mental shield, no one can find us. They can't use psychics, mid readers, trackers, or anything like that. Not even God knows where we are unless we allow him."

"So that's why none of our powers work on you three." Alice said.

"What? What powers?" I asked.

"I can see the future," she said, "Jasper can control people's feelings, and Edward can read minds."

"And you were planning to tell me this when?"

"Um… well…see…" Alice sputtered.

"Uh huh. I guess I'm not the only one keeping secrets. But it's okay."

"So why do you two live separately?" Emmett asked, referring to Sly and myself.

"I used to live with him; but when Khristalie kept hunting me down and trying to kill me, Sly had to put me somewhere safe. When I met Vanita, it was during a fight with Khristalie. Sly and I had relocated to India after her last attack. I was running from Khris when I ran into Vanita. I could instantly tell that she was like me. We bonded instantly. Sly figured that since I would no longer be alone, Vanita and I could live together while he traced Khristalie. He sent us to America. We've been moving around for… a while. Sometimes, my carelessness gets us into trouble."

"What do you mean?" Carlisle inquired.

"Well, we bond easily with people. They are drawn to our angelic halves. But as much as we bond with humans, we also bond with vampires. We've come across many that we thought we could trust. Once we let them in on our secret. Since the Volturi is also supposed to be looking for us, the traitors either rat us out to them hoping to gain favor, or they rat us out to Khristalie hoping to get a reward from her or Lucifer. They tell her where we are, and there's a big showdown. I try not to hurt her because Sly wants to reason with her; but that usually leaves me injured. Once we escape, Vanita calls Sly and tells him what happens. That's why she was so upset about me bonding with you guys. She was trying to protect us."

"You have nothing to worry about with us." Esme assured us, "We will keep your secret, and we will also protect you if the occasion ever presents itself."

"Thank you, Esme."

"If no one else can track her, then how can he?" Jasper asked.

"You know how twins can sometimes hear each other's thoughts? We have something similar to that. If one of us is in serious danger, the others can hear it and feel it. We can also get into each other's minds if the other is off guard, or we really need to. Sometimes, we can get visions of each other. As you just witnessed, Khristalie sent me a vision. She wants me to know that she's coming; I just don't understand why. She must have some trick up her sleeve."

"So what else can you guys do?" Emmett asked.

"I'll let them answer for themselves since we all have different powers."

"Well, not completely different." Vanita corrected, "All of us, including Khris, have the basic vampire abilities. We're super strong, super fast, we have heightened hearing and sight; only we're better at all those than vampires are. And we don't sparkle in the sun. Because we're half angel, we sort of have this glow. Our extra abilities are where we differ. I have a dominion over time. I can slow it down or speed it up."

"That day when we were almost late for class," I reminded them, "Vanita was the one who held off the bell to give us a few extra minutes."

"I can project a force field to protect me and others from physical attacks; but it's weak. I can't hold it against someone really powerful for too long. And I can also do this." Vanita focused on nothing imparticular until a halo appeared above her head. She pulled the halo down," I can turn this into any weapon I want it to be," she demonstrated this by turning into a knife, a sword, and a whip before making it disappear, "It'd be kinda weird if I walked around with a halo hovering over my head."

"You can say that again." Emmett muttered.

"I guess it's my turn now." Sly said, "Well, I can sense peoples true purposes. I'm sort of like a human lie detector. My power doesn't work on my sisters, but Bella never lies to me, and I can always tell when Khris is lying. I can shape shift into any person or animal I want. I can't control the weather, but I can control rain. Really, I don't do anything special. I'm just the protective big brother who's trying to keep the family together. And I'm sorry for almost attacking you earlier."

"It's okay." Carlisle said, "We would do the same thing if it was one of us."

I sighed deeply as everyone's heads turned to me, "So I guess it's my turn now. I think we should step outside. I don't want anything to happen to Esme's beautiful house."

We stood up, and everyone followed me outside. Sly and Nita stood beside me as we faced the Cullens.

"For starters, I'm a conjurer. I can make anything I want appear and disappear. That's how we get our cars and our houses. The clothes we pay for, because Vanita and I love to shop."

"Show us." Alice practically demanded.

"What do you want?

"The Golden Gate Bridge!"

"Be reasonable, Emmett." Esme chided.

"Fine." Emmett sulked, "Then how about a bear. A grizzly." He suggested with a smirk.

"Don't you dare eat it."

His face fell when I said that. I shook my head at him, before I closed my eyes. This was a small thing to conjure, so it only took a few seconds. When I heard the bear's roar, I opened my eyes.

"I can speak to animals through their thoughts, as well." I demonstrated this by telling the bear to walk towards Esme, and snuggle against her. It listened to me. Esme was petting it; but when Emmett got a hungry look on his face, I made the bear disappear.

"What else can you do?" Alice asked excitedly.

"I can control fire." I opened my hand and a flame appeared. I threw the flame towards Emmett and made it go out just before it touched him, "I've gotten very good over the years." I smirked, seeing his terrified face, "And there's one other thing I can do. I fly."

"You…fly?" Alice asked, a bit stunned.

"It makes sense, seeing as how angels usually do fly."

"I have wings and everything."

"Can we see?" Alice asked.

"Sure." I responded. I focused again and pushed my wings out of my back. The Cullens stared in awe at my sparkling, ebony feathers. Like with the other night, I crouched down and pushed off from the ground. I didn't go too high; I merely soared above the trees so that I was still in view. I loved flying so much that Sly had to call me down. I lowered myself, but remained hovering above the ground, sitting on the air.

"Your wings are beautiful," Esme complimented.

"Thank you. Unfortunately, this is a power that I must share. People always used to say that Khristalie and I were enough alike to be twins. Our powers are very similar. She can create and manipulate electricity. That's the offensive power she uses against me when we aren't fist fighting. On top of almost copying my fire power, she can fly to. I get a bit jealous of her because, even though her soul is so dark, her wings are pure white. Sometimes I wonder if something went wrong, and I got the wrong wings. But I appreciate what I have."

"So…I still don't get it."

Everyone shook their heads at Emmett idiocy.

"Emmett ---" I started, but he cut me off.

"No. I mean, I understand. It's just weird is all. What do you guys eat? Is there like a special angel diet or what?"

"No. we follow both a human and vampire diet." Vanita answered.

"But we don't eat humans." I quickly added after seeing the looks on their faces.

"Anymore." Vanita grumbled.

"Sorry about that." I said, "We gave up humans so that we'd be harder to track."

"With so many vampires out there, how could they track you?" Rosalie asked.

"Our venom can't turn humans. Its affects are countered by the angel magic. But it does leave a significant mark. After we bite them, the body will glow to vampire eyes. It will appear luminescent, like a light is being shined from underneath the skin. They would follow the dead humans to us."

"So we had to give up the best meals of our life, and turn to hunting animals. Although, they do put up more of a challenge." Vanita grinned.

"How about sleep?" Jasper asked, "Surely angels have no need for sleep."

"True; and neither do vampires. We only sleep when we want to. Sometimes our minds or bodies will become exhausted, and we'll need to rest." Sly told them."

"So now you know pretty much everything." I said.

"Not everything. There's one more thing I want to ask."

"Yes Emmett."

"How old are you?"

"Yes." Carlisle added, "I had been wondering."

"Oh, age is nothing but a number really." I said, trying to avoid the question.

"Stop stalling." Emmett said.

"I'm not!" I argued.

"How old?" he asked again.

"I'm…we're…Sly and I are two years apart. Khristalie and I are one year apart. I was born around 640,000 B.C" I said, trailing off at the end.

"WHAT?!"

Their reactions were just as I expected.

"Bella you're older than dirt." Emmett joked, earning him a smack upside the head from Rosalie.

"Don't be so rude, Emmett." She scolded, "You're embarrassing her."

"It's okay, Rose. I got over my age a long time ago."

"We seem to have a slight dilemma here." Vanita reminded me.

"Nita, I know."

"What's seems to be the problem?" Carlisle inquired.

"Well, remember how I told you that if I told you our story, I would be endangering you as well as us? You're in trouble now. My sister knows where we are. She's bringing the Volturi here. She won't pay you much attention if you stay out of the fight. The Volturi will notice you at once and give you two choices. You can either help them take us down, or you can take our side and be sacrificed one by one until we give in to save you. If you choose to ally with the Volturi, I will understand. It's safer for you, and that's all I really want."

"Bella, you're nuts!" Emmett exclaimed, "Of course we're gonna stand by you no matter what. I don't care if she brings a hundred Volturis. I'm itching for a good fight anyways."

"Emmett's right, Bella." Alice agreed, "We all love you, and we're all gonna fight for you; no matter who comes along."

I looked around to see all of the Cullens nodding their heads. I was about to thank them when my eyes rested on Edward. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes staring off into the distance.

"Edward?" I called.

The moment his name escaped my lips, Edward fled from the room. he had barely left the atrium before I heard the front door slam.

"Don't worry about that Bella. He's just upset. He always was the biggest brat."

"It's okay Alice. I needed to talk to him anyway. I'm pretty sure I know what's wrong." I stood up to leave, but felt my brother's hand in mine; stopping me. I looked back to see my brother almost pleading with me, "It's okay."

"No, Bells, it's not. He's mad. There's no telling what might happen to you. And what if Khristalie is already here? Anything could happen to you."

I gently pulled my hand from his and placed it on his cheek. I caressed it with my finger, as he held it close with his own hand.

"Sly, you are way too overprotective. Now that the link is open, I can feel Khris. It's gonna be a while before she gets here. Besides, no matter how upset he is with me, Edward cares about me. He wouldn't let anything happen to me. He's almost as bad as you. Don't worry about me. I love you."

"I love you too."


	8. Chapter 8

_Dear Reviewers,_

_First of all, I always have to send love and thanks to all the dedicated fans and beautiful reviewers that give me hope. I am so sorry that I haven't updated my stories in a while, but life was a bit hectic. Besides, I was dreaming up the Edward/Bella make-up. I know that the part about the Volturi being the first vampire rulers is wrong, but let's face it. We all know they are evil and it just seemed much more fitting for them to have been the evil rulers. Once again, I would like to thank everyone for the support. And, as always, enjoy._

Love always,

**K.C.I.C/ Kas**  
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I was sprinting through the forest, following Edward's scent. It was nothing for me to catch up to him seeing as how I was ten times faster. He never stood a chance. When he realized that I was gaining on him he tried to kick up the speed. It was to no avail. Soon enough I passed him and stood in front of him so that he was forced to either stop or crash. He tried to stop, but ended up smashing right into me. We landed with me on the ground and Edward on top of me.

"Ow." I said. Since my skin wasn't rock hard like his I had experienced some pain.

Edward stood up and started to take off again, but I stopped him.

"Oh no you don't." using my hand, I caught his foot and dragged him back to the ground. Then, I flipped on top of him, my legs on either side of his body. I leaned down to his face and almost whispered the next words, "Now we're gonna sit here and talk like adults. No more running."

"If you insist. Although, I would prefer to talk without the lies this time."

"Edward," I groaned, "Okay, I know I lied to you, but I'm sorry. I didn't want to, but I had to. And it's not like you didn't keep secrets from me too."

"What secrets did I keep?"

"Don't play dumb. If I hadn't told you that I already knew you were a vampire then you wouldn't have told me. And let's not forget the fact that I just found out that you can read minds. Were you ever going to tell me?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that I was a bit hurt he had kept something like that from me.

"Were you going to tell me your secret?" he asked in the same tone.

"It wasn't my secret to tell. Your mind reading ability is all your own. There was no danger in you revealing yourself to me. If I would've told you my story Vanita and Sly would've killed me. And then the Volturi would've come for you. Everything I did was to protect the people I care about most."

"If you truly cared for me the way you claim to then you wouldn't have lied to me. I didn't even know that you had a brother."

'Hold on. Back up. 'The way I _claimed_ to care about you'?" I quoted him, "The fact that you even said that shows that you don't know me at all."

"I found out I didn't know you about a half hour ago in my living room." he shot back hurtfully. I felt the tears coming to my eyes and began climbing off of Edward in an effort to run away. We both got to our feet as I began to storm off into the forest, walking at a human pace.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I don't care about you, remember? It shouldn't matter where I'm going." I called back, never turning around. Before I knew it, Edward was before me. I tried to step around him, but he gripped my shoulders and pinned me to a tree. I averted my eyes from his face.

"Bella." he mused.

"Don't call me that." I said harshly.

"Bella." he continued, always the stubborn one, "Bella I'm sorry."

"That you would even question how I feel about you is so…so…hurtful." I said as a few tears escaped my eyes and flowed down my cheeks.

"Bella look at me." I slowly lifted my eyes until they bore into his, "I didn't mean it. I was hurt that you kept things from me and I let my mouth get out of control. Look into my eyes and know that I had no intention of hurting you. Please forgive me for that moment of stupidity." He said while wiping my tears with his thumb, simultaneously stroking my cheek.

"You do know that I truly love you, and that I never meant to hurt you or keep things from you?" I asked.

"Yes. I understand now. The same way I didn't immediately tell you that my family and I are vampires is the same way you had to keep your family's secret. I was being childish, and hypocritical, and I see that now."

"Then I forgive you."

Edward smiled my favorite crooked smile. The same smile that made me weak at the knees and want to melt into his arms. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him to me. Our lips collided and moved in synchronization. It felt so right. I was so happy that the argument was completely forgotten. We started to get a little carried away. My legs had snaked their way around Edward's waist, and he was holding me up. We had been out here a while. It had started to rain. My hair and clothes were drenched, but the water just slid off Edward's marble skin. It did mess with his hair, making it look even more disheveled. The moonlight was hitting his skin just right. I could hardly resist. We were snapped out of it by the sound of my ringtone. I looked at the screen and groaned at my brother's name. I climbed down from Edward's arms, not wanting to talk to my elder brother in such a compromising position.

"Hello Sly."

"Is everything alright? You two have been gone for a while."

"Stop playing the overprotective big brother role. I'm fine. Edward and I managed to work things out. We'll be home soon."

"Hurry up. With Khristalie on her way, I don't wanna take any chances."

"Fine _Sylvester_." I taunted using his full name.

"Okay_ Isabella_." He retorted.

I made a face before hanging up. I turned back to Edward who wore a seductive smile on his face.

"Come on, Romeo. We've gotta get back before my brother has a conniption."

"I'd rather stay here and do this." Before I could protest, Edward pulled me back into his arms, and met my mouth with his. I let myself get carried away for a moment before remembering what Sly had done to some of my past boyfriends who had gotten too physical with me. I couldn't risk him coming out here and finding us like this. I pushed Edward away, and put a hand to his chest to keep him at bay while I caught my breath.

"We can't. We have to…get back…before…Sly comes looking…for us." I panted. Edward panted and I almost gave in. Almost, "Nice try, but that's not gonna work this time."

"Oh really," he challenged. Edward grabbed my arm and backed me against a tree, "How about now?"

"No." I said unconvincingly.

Edward pinned my hands to the tree, "And now?"

"Harder to resist, but still possible."

He pressed his body against mine and leaned in. He let his mouth run along my neck. I almost moaned, but restrained knowing that he would laugh in victory. He came back to my face, and I could feel his icy breath as his lips brushed against mine, "How about now?"

"You've got me." I gave him a short kiss before regaining my backbone, "Now come on. We can pick this up later."

"Believe me. We will." He said with an evil grin. Edward took my hand, and we ran together --- me slowing down for his benefit --- back to the house. When we arrived, everyone sat with huge grins on their faces. Jasper was the most affected by Edward's and mine and mood. He must have been drowning in happiness.

"What were you guys doing?" Emmett teased.

"None of your business." I answered back jokingly.

"Bella, come to me." Sly almost commanded. I reluctantly let go of Edward's hand and stalked towards my brother. He patted his lap and I sat like I always did when we had our heart to heart moments. It was that action that made me realize we were about to have a serious talk that would require difficult action. I wrapped my hands lovingly around his neck, and he protectively circled his around my waist.

"Yes Sly."

"You know, sometimes it's so hard to look at you. You remind me so much of mommy that it hurts. You're just as beautiful, and just as charming."

"Sly stop it." I asked weakly, on the verge of tears.

"But it also hurts because I know how fragile you are. You're sweet, and innocent, and trusting. Even hell didn't taint you. It just pains me that you're under attack for something that isn't your fault. I want to protect you from the world."

"Sly you can't. I'm a big girl and I have to learn to take care of myself. I'm gonna get hurt sometimes. It's part of growing up. But I can't do that if you protect me from every little thing. I have to make some decisions on my own."

"I know that. And that's why I've decided to leave this decision up to you."

"What decision." I asked confused.

"We've been fighting Khris for a while. I know I've preferred for you two not to fight so that I could try to get through to her. I honestly think that it's working, but you always end up getting hurt when you don't fight back. So I'm gonna ask you. When she gets here, what do you want to do? Do you want me to try and reason with her again, or do we…_kill_ her?" Sly struggled to get the word out. I could see that the thought of ever killing one of his baby sisters pained him.

I myself had to think long and hard about this. It was a big decision; huge actually. As many times as Khris had pursued me, I knew I should hate her for it.

"Sly, Khris has come after me a lot. She's been trying to kill me for millennia. I should hate her, and there are times when I really wish I did. But I don't. I can't. Even though she is currently my enemy, it wasn't always so. We were happy once. I can still remember when she would sit with me for hours, playing in my hair while she told me about the world. She passed on the wisdom that elder siblings always should. Even though she was only a year older than me, she always seemed so much smarter. So much more mature."

"Khris is my sister. I love her. I'll always have a soft spot for her. And even though she won't show it, I can feel that she still loves me too. Jealousy simply clouds her better judgment. She's hurting Sly. I can feel it all the time. When she's not careful, I dream about her. I can feel how much it hurts her to be alone. She misses us. She's doing this because mommy and dad are dead. It was her punishment to God to be the most dangerous force in hell. She feels I took her justice for our parents' death away from her."

"As much of a shock as it may sound, I really think we can get through to her. A part of her wants to come back to us. So…I don't wanna kill her. I know that if she attacks me I'll have to fight back, but I won't kill her."

Sly smiled warmly before pulling me into a tight embrace, "My little sis is all grown up."

"All thanks to you keeping me alive long enough to grow up."

"I love you way too much to let anything happen to you."

"As I love you." I pulled out of the hug and looked my brother in the eyes, "Now the Volturi are another story entirely." I growled, "Especially that Heidi. I'm gonna rip her to shreds." I hadn't noticed that my hands had balled into fists and were now on fire until Sly gave my waist a calming squeeze. I released my hands and softened my face, "Sorry."

"It's okay. I know just how you feel. I have a thing or two to show Alec as well."

I laughed at my brother's mach act. He glared evilly at me and began tickling my sides. I let out a very child-like giggle. He loved it when I did that. He said it made me sound like I was seven. It made him remember when things were better.

"Stop it, jerk face." I managed to get out.

"I'm a jerk face, huh? I'll show you a jerk face." he said before tickling me even harder.

"Okay. Okay. I'm…s-sorry. You win." I choked out. Sly eased up and I leaned against him for support. Our faces were aglow with happiness. This reminded me so much of the old days.

"It's so nice to see siblings interact in such a loving manner." Esme said causing us to focus our attention on her, "All I ever see around here are endless bets, and constant wrestling."

"Don't think you're past that." Vanita piped up, "These two are always competing against each other. Bella always wants to try and show up Sly. But they're evenly matched most of the time. Although, I think Sly is up by three points right now."

"Not for long." I said, "I'm so ready for a rematch."

"Bring it on little sis. And I do emphasize _little_."

"Oh please. I don't care how small I am, I can still take you."

"Name the time and place."

"Oh brother." Vanita exclaimed, "Why did I get them started.

The Cullens joined us joyous laughter. I couldn't help thinking how nice this was. Hopefully if this whole mess with Khris ever ended, we could all live together and be a family. A happy family; how I missed that.


End file.
